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Film and literature topics on frenchteacher

The new MFL A-levels for first teaching from September 2016, will involve teaching film and literature, assessed by essay in the target language - thankfully ALCAB's proposal for essays in English was rejected by Ofqual after consultation. This focus on film and literature reflects the bias of universities and will not be to every teacher's taste, but that's what we have been given to work with.

My first recommendation for resources on French film and literature is Steve Glover's ALF. Steve also has resources for German and Spanish. You can buy individual resource packs for a good range of films and works of literature. The resources combine analysis with language practice very effectively. In addition, schools will no doubt want to make sure they have a small stock of library books about authors and film directors in both English and French.

I have a range of practical resources on frenchteacher which we used at Ripon Grammar School where our focus was always on film and literature. They include links to quality online resources which I spent a good deal of time researching. Here is the list:

L'Etranger - Camus

WorksheetsProse translation – MeursaultPlot summary in French (link)Webcamus site – good (link)Some good insights (link)Useful notes from Greenhead College (link)Very clear notes in English by D. Barfield (link)BBC Radio 4 In Our Time programme (link)Talk on the absurd by Robert Solomon (link)Youtube link to a live stage adaptation (link)

La Peste - Camus

Worksheets (Folio Plus ed.)Good biography in French with photos (link)Clear analyses of character and situation (link)Some good background material (link)Sparknotes summaries and analysis in English (link)Wikipedia entry in English (link)French wikipedia entry (link)Very good analysis of Doctor Rieux from Etudes Littéraires site (link)Interesting analysis of the novel in French from Etudes Littéraires site (link)More on Sisyphus and Revolt (link)TV5 video report and exercises on Camus (link)AQA model exam essay on RieuxAQA model exam essay on main themesAQA model exam essay on role of life of author (by Giles Pitts)Questions for discussionLa Peste – qui aurait dit cela?La Peste – mots croisés en ligne

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I did my first degree in French and Linguistics at Reading University and my MA in second language acquisition at the Institute of Education, London. I taught at Tiffin School, Hampton School, then was Head of Modern Languages at Ripon Grammar School in Yorkshire for 24 years. I now write resources for frenchteacher.net, train PGCE students at Buckingham University, present at occasional events, blog and work for the AQA exam board training and writing teacher support resources.

Publications

The Language Teacher Toolkit (2016), a handbook for teachers, co-authored with Gianfranco Conti